We have fears: Farmers’ eviction concerns of tema motorway expansion, Ghana

Abstract In this study, we assessed the concerns of the numerous vegetable farmers whose farms are likely to be wiped out along one of Ghana’s most popular roads, the Tema Motorway, if it is widened to ease the growing traffic in the rapidly urbanizing city of Accra. We employed a qualitative research design to examine the possible effects on the livelihoods of 30 farmers along the stretch. We found that the pending expansion project has brought several fears in the form of loss of livelihood and income through the possible destruction of crops and loss of land, to the farmers. We realized the idea of having no knowledge of compensation package to cushion them after they are evicted from their main source of livelihood worsens their fears. We recommend a well-structured compensation package in the form of psychological, alternative livelihood and financial support be given to them to reduce their fears.


Introduction
Cities globally are inhabited by approximately half of the world's population, and this trend is expected to escalate in the future (Güneralp et al., 2020;Mahendra & Seto, 2019;Satterthwaite et al., 2010). By 2030, the global urban population is expected to hit 6.29 billion people, accounting for 69% of the world's population. This number is likely to surge up to more than two-thirds by 2050. For cities in Africa and Asia, it is also estimated their urban populations will surge up by 90% by 2050 (United Nations, 2014). Ghana has experienced an upsurge in population with more than 55% of its citizens living in urban areas (Ghana Statistical Service, 2021). Urbanization results in an increase in large-scale road infrastructure projects, which includes road expansion (Adugbila, 2019). As cities expand, transportation infrastructure becomes a fundamental tool to facilitate business and foster economic development (Bacior & Prus, 2018). Notwithstanding the huge role road infrastructural development plays in the development of cities, their development also comes with some challenges and some genuine negative externalities (Wiegand et al., 2017, in Adugbila, 2019. As these road networks expand and take over lands and spaces that are used for other economic activities, it creates the potential to inflict psychological and emotional harm on people occupying such spaces. This comes in the form of loss of productive resources that leads to reduced income and subsequently worsened living conditions. In this case, the most affected are the poor and small-scale businesses (Adugbila, 2019;Khanani et al., 2021;Olatunde et al., 2021). One of the livelihoods and income activities that are lost out of road and general infrastructural development in expanding urban centres is agriculture. This situation in most cases worsens the food security situation in cities and further marginalizes farmers who are mostly within the low-income brackets (Abass et al., 2018;Bonye et al., 2021;Kasanga et al., 1996).
Interestingly, the many studies on urban agriculture have rarely considered issues of farmers eviction along major road networks which are likely to be expanded as a result of urbanization. Most of the studies have reported on the effects of urban expansion on the land use but not covered the effects on the farmers and their livelihoods after losing their lands. This study mainly seeks to fill this gap by assessing the fears of farmers along Ghana's most popular motorway who are likely to lose their lands and how they are preparing to mitigate the negative effects of the loss.

Literature review on farmers' eviction
Eviction for purposes of development such as the construction of a motorway comes with its latent and unavoidable consequences mostly affecting the disadvantaged within the project area. Robinson (2003) notes that while development projects are generally beneficial, there are some costs that are frequently transferred to further impoverish society. Studies on displacement or eviction of people have been conducted in developing countries such as Brazil, India, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. While some have looked at dam-induced displacement (Athayde et al., 2019;Piróg et al., 2019;Randell, 2016), others have looked in mining-induced displacement (Korah et al., 2019;Markuszewska, 2021;Owen et al., 2021) and some urban-induced displacement (Shaw & Saharan, 2019;Tandon & Verma, 2021). Relocation of people can be explained by a number of factors. Some are the obstruction of activities due to their presence, the need to create space for some developmental and infrastructural projects due to urbanization and the risk occupants pose as they live in those places. One major activity that results in significant population displacement especially in urban areas is the construction of transportation infrastructure. (Shaw & Saharan, 2019;Vanclay, 2017). Displacement or eviction in general affects individuals, communities, and areas in several ways; whether rural or urban. The effects are both socioeconomic and cultural once it affects their natural settings. Some of the evictions and displacements have led to increased poverty and inequality. In such circumstances, the most affected are the women and the youth while the community leaders, mainly men, benefit economically (Mohammed et al., 2020;Randell, 2016;Shaw & Saharan, 2019;Siddiqui, 2018;Wilson, 2019).
Eviction of farmers on urban and peri-urban lands has also gained some attention in literature. Studies within the African context have attempted to determine how peri-urban households react to the shock of land loss caused by urbanization and industrialization in peri-urban areas of big cities. In Osun State in Nigeria, over 70% of the farmers feared they would lose their farm lands due to development projects which affect their farms. The majority of farmers, according to this study, mainly farm for commercial purposes. (Lasisi et al., 2017). In Ethiopia, several studies have reported on city expansion and its impact on urban farmers. In the Tigray Regional State for instance, about 40% of peri-urban farmers have suffered evictions on their lands due to the incidence of urbanization (Weldearegay et al., 2021). There have been evictions on farm lands in the municipalities of the Amara region and Gondar city in Ethiopia due to urban redesigning and rapid expansion development (Alemineh, 2018;Mohammed et al., 2020). In most of these cases, farmers face the challenge of losing their lands and livelihoods themselves (Admasu, 2015;Alemineh, 2018;Dires et al., 2021;Weldearegay et al., 2021). Similarly, large number of urban farmers have also been evicted from their farms in Hawassa City, Southern Ethiopia, where the farmers had little or no compensation (Admasu, 2015). Another study conducted in Ethiopia indicated that the compensation given to farmers was primarily in the form of cash, which was insufficient to make up for what was lost. As a result, people begin to search for alternative jobs to farming but lack the skills and knowledge necessary for alternative employment (Gebeyehu et al., 2022). In addition, Debre-Markos residents also suffered eviction from their lands for developmental projects as a result of urbanization and the farmers experienced including food insecurity, social disintegration, and family breakdown as a result of the inadequate compensation (Alemineh, 2018;Dires et al., 2021). According to the majority of studies, farmers who lost their lands to urbanization are disappointed with local government because their compensations could not buy new lands to replace the lands they lost (Gebreegziabher & Tadesse, 2014;Koroso et al., 2020;Tassie Wegedie, 2018). Tuffour (2018) has indicated that studies on urban agriculture in Ghana have been quite extensive. Some have covered marketing, farming systems, water use, health, institutional policy and support and land use. Notwithstanding the extensive studies that have been conducted, studies on farmers eviction specifically through road expansion in urban areas is rare in existing literature. This lacuna is not only realized in Ghana but Africa in general. Although Karg et al. (2020) acknowledges that urban farmers in Accra (Ghana) and Bamenda (Cameroun) have lost large tracts of lands due to the rapid and unceasing pace of urbanization, the study of possible loss of land of urban farmers due to a specific road expansion project is hardly found in existing literature in Africa, hence this study.

Theory of study
Urban displacement is a phenomenon that is connected to various urban dynamics worldwide (Hirsh et al., 2020). Hammer (2014) defines displacement as ". . . the enforced changes in interweaving spatial, social and symbolic conditions and relations" (pp 9). This description is appropriate for the context of our study because the respondent farmers who are facing eviction from their comfortable space where they equally share strong social and symbolic ties to. Koenig (2001) posits that moving people away from areas where significant infrastructure projects will be undertaken is problematic unless something is done to assist them. The fears expressed by farmers sit well with the Impoverishment Risk and Reconstruction (IRR) theory developed by Cernea (2000). The theory identifies the risks of poverty inherent with evictions. He suggested the following eight identifiers of eviction-related potential risks that can negatively impact the farmers. They are landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, food insecurity, increased morbidity and mortality, loss of access to common property, and social disarticulation. Being landless makes it more difficult for the farmers to manage themselves because it limits their capacity to produce and earn money rendering them jobless. Cernea (2000) found that severe health decline is strongly associated with eviction, which imposes social psychological stress trauma that has a detrimental impact on people's wellbeing. Although, the decision to evict farmers along the motorway to pave way for the motorway expansion is by no means intentional to impoverish farmers but for rather for purposes of national development, it must be undertaken in a manner that equally takes into consideration the well-being of the affected persons.

Study area
The Tema Motorway is a 19 km stretch highway located in the Greater Accra region of Ghana constructed during the administration of Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, which was first opened to traffic in November, 1965 to connect the port and industrial city of Tema to Ghana's capital city of Accra and other major cities. Currently, the Tema motorway links international routes, such as Lagos to Abidjan which is a component of the Dakar to Lagos Trans-African route of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) as well as Ghana's Eastern Corridor, connecting the Tema Port to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger which are landlocked (Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 2020). The significance of the Tema motorway in facilitating trade especially in the West African Sub-Region has created a need for its expansion to address the mounting trade levels. Additionally, while the Greater Accra region covers just about 1.4% of Ghana's total land cover, it is home to 65% of vehicles in the country (Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 2020) creating a perennial traffic situation which justifies the need to expand a major road such as the Tema motorway to further firm up the link between Accra and Ghana's industrial and port city, Tema.

Research design and data collection
In selecting a qualitative research design for our study, we used a single instrumental case study approach. This approach was necessitated by the peculiarity of our interest in a possible eviction of urban farmers along a major road in a developing country such as Ghana which is likely to be expanded from two lanes on each side to about four (Creswell, 2013;Creswell & Poth, 2016;Stake, 1995). Data was collected in February, 2022 within a period of a month. Farmers were very easy to reach since they were within a cluster which has farms largely closer to each other.
In collecting data from the farmers, our purposeful sampling method was homogenous since there were a lot of similarities among farmers in terms of location, farming experience on the land, type of technology used and crops grown (Creswell & Poth, 2016;Patton, 2014;Yin, 2015). In collecting the data, we used a semi-structured interview guide. Even though we focused on questions that were directly related to the research objectives, we gave the farmers flexibility to add extra information outside what was initially intended in the research. With this approach, we obtained rich data from farmers since they added to the nuances of the phenomenon under study which gave us a better picture of the situation (Saunders et al., 2019).
The interviews lasted an average of 20 minutes. We used an electronic device to record the interviews. In addition to that we used field note books to record the other happenings on the field through personal observations. We used these additional data collection tools on the field to write memos which were very useful for data analyses (Creswell & Poth, 2016;Saunders et al., 2019). Table 1 gives a brief demography of the farmers interviewed.

Data analysis
We transcribed all the data we collected on the field. After, we checked if there was consistency between the transcriptions and audio recordings. We further cleaned and edited after which we proceeded with our thematic analysis. Using our thematic analysis, we employed a four-stage content analysis approach. This involved codes creation plan, codes formulation, themes creation and finally the consolidation of themes which are focused on the objectives of the study (Venkatesh et al., 2016). In carrying out the thematic analysis, we first employed primary codes after which they were subsequently scaled up to secondary. The secondary codes gave us a clear path to creating the themes for the study. Among some of the primary codes used were initial, in vivo, value and emotion and the secondary codes used were focused and pattern (Creswell & Poth, 2016;Miles et al., 2013;Saldaña, 2021).

Ethical considerations
Both verbal and written consent were obtained from the respondents (farmers) before the commencement of interviews. The farmers were informed of the objectives of the study and assurance of confidentiality was given after which they voluntary agreed to partake in the study. The respondents as shown in Table 1 were identified by numbers with no reference to their real names (Saunders et al., 2019). Ethical approval was provided by the Ethics Review Board of the Presbyterian University, Ghana.

Results and discussion
This section presents a discussion on the findings of the study in five main headings which are: farmers' awareness of expansion; their fears of losing their livelihoods; farming activities and the vulnerability of urban farmers; their efforts of survival after eviction: and indications of institutional support after their eviction. Table 2 present the summary of findings derived from the data that reflect their awareness of the motorway expansion project and how they got informed about it. All the farmers they were aware of the intended expansions even though not a from single source. Although majority (12) of the farmers indicated they were informed by government officials and the surveyors working on the project, they were oblivious of the specific organization these officials came from. Besides, they had no information about when the project was commencing and hence their expected eviction date. As one farmer puts it; The fact that farmers were not sure of when eviction will take place and is a source of anxiety for them. This is because the farmers can strategize within the awaiting period before their supposed eviction. Teklemariam and Cochrane (2021) observed that urban farmers who have a high perception of farmland tenure instability, particularly as a result of urban growth activities (e.g., road construction) are more conscious on the use of their farm lands since there is high uncertainty in its use.

Fear of losing the livelihood
As a result of the expected expansion, majority of the farmers feared that the anticipated eviction process will have a rippling effect of the social and economic displacement consequences on them. These include not being able to cater for their families and the education of their children especially as a result of low incomes when their farms are destroyed. See, Table 3. This situation will exacerbate their vulnerability as people who are normally within the low-income earning bracket; a state which will affect their sense of belonging and social cohesion as urban dwellers. The farmers are also afraid of their future because they are likely to be unemployed. This means it will be very difficult to be employed and to get involved in another trade after losing their major sources of employment looking at the skills they have acquired in farming over the years. Besides, they are not highly educated or technically skilled and this will reduce their chances of securing decent forms of employment after the eviction. Farmers also have fears of the resettlement  How did you hear of the expansion?

Fears and Concerns
What are your fears and concerns of your possible eviction with respect to your family?
(1) Inability to fend for family-15 (2) Inability to educate children-7 (3) Fear of the unknown-5 (4) None-3 What are your fears and concerns when you are evicted with respect to your finances?
(1) Evicted without compensation-13 (2) Loss of livelihood-10 ( process as there is no indication that government has taken or will make such an arrangement. Even if it done, there is a question of the new place of settlement for farming if it will be endowed with basic amenities such as hospitals, schools and transport facilities. A handful of farmers (3 farmers) however, had no fears because they had other lands, had been able to acquire properties from farming which could support them financially in the future and/or had older children who could cater for themselves if they should lose their jobs.
If urban farmers lose their farmlands, it will have implications for accomplishing the SDG 2; which is Zero Hunger (Acquah et al., 2020). Korir et al. (2015) also noted that farmers run the risk of losing their jobs, suffer from poverty and hunger, as well as having health problems if they lose their lands. Eviction will therefore come with its negative consequences on the farmers and this could be alleviated should they be given some compensation to secure other lands for farming or finance non-farm ventures to cater for their needs. Accordingly, eviction without compensation and loss of livelihood stood out as their main fears (See , Table 3). Farmers voiced fear about engaging in other sources of income because doing so would require them to leave their familiar environment of farming and enter into an area they perceive to be the unknown. Because farming is their main source of income, our study concurs with Atu et al. (2013)'s assertion that urban farmers will be the most negatively affected in spite of the fact that the motorway expansion project will benefit the country on a larger scale. Phuc (2019) also asserts that for people whose primary source of income is agriculture, the loss of land might be disastrous because losing their occupation may make it impossible to move to a new venture.

Farming activities and the vulnerability of urban farmers
Some of the farmers have been farming in Accra as recent as 10 years and as late as 40 years, cultivating crops such as maize, okro, onion, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber and green pepper. They are dependent on the farm activities for their survival and have benefited from the farm production. Some farmers gain as high as $7142.00 and as low as $143.00 annually. Batitucci et al. (2019) emphasized on how important urban farming is to farmers household finances, particularly in areas of low-income. Profits made by the farmers are used to take care of their families and manage their homes. Again, farmers their farm incomes to acquire properties. As a farmer expressed it: I have been able to build my own house out of farming (Farm 16, Personal Interview, February, 2022).
The food produced by the farm may also be used for domestic consumption in addition to the financial merits. Some farmers could, however, not give a monetary value on how much profit they make due to illiteracy and their poor records keeping. One farmer said; I don't really calculate the amount I invest or make because I buy the farm implements as and when I need them. I haven't been to school so writing it down will be difficult (Farm 24, Personal Interview, February, 2022).
This demonstrates that urban farming does in fact support the economic well-being of families whose heads belong to the informal sector in the urban space. With eviction looming, the urban farmers are increasingly vulnerable of losing the land and income they gain from the farming. They also risk suffering from the continues high cost of living in the city of Accra which comes in the form of high food and utility prices and accommodation cost. This in the end leads to the threat of food insecurity and poverty.

Efforts of survival after eviction
With regard to efforts made to secure alternative land to fall on after eviction, farmers gave varied responses. This is presented in Table 4. Some had not made any attempt to secure lands elsewhere while others have. Out of those who have made only one have been successful. Majority of the farmers indicated that they will likely move to other income generation activities switch to others jobs such as piggery and poultry production, and corn milling. The consideration of switching to other livelihood ventures could be accounted for by farmers' unsuccessful attempts to find other available lands in the Greater Accra Region.
Other studies have also indicated farmers decision to venture into non-farm incomes after realizing that they can lose primary source of income (Atamanov & Van den Berg, 2011;Elhadary et al., 2013;Tacoli, 2004;Tran & Lim, 2011) has underscored that farmers will always have to find ways of surviving if they lose their means of livelihood. According to Karg et al. (2020), even though available lands for urban farming are shrinking due to urbanization, farmers hardly accept their own colleagues to their farm lands if they had (1) Unsucessful-13 (2) Not started-11 (3) Secured other lands-3 (4) Lack of money-3 What efforts government made to secure a land for you?
In case you don't secure a land at your desired location, what will you do?
(1) Change occupation-12 (2) Don't know-6 (3) Relocate to other farms-4 (4) Looking up to God-4 (5) Retire-3  (1) Compensation-18 (2) Capital to start business-8 (3) Relocation-2 (4) Provision of loans-2 been evicted and looking for new places to farm. This resistance is something centered on trust which is mainly explained by differences in ethnicity, language or geographical region. Therefore, resident farmers are usually uncomfortable allowing "outsiders" into their fold. Table 5 also presents the various forms of support required after eviction.

Conclusion
Urban expansion is beneficial for the people but it leads to a continuous loss of farming land in the peri-urban areas mostly in the form of acquiring land by the government for development that directly impact the urban farmers' livelihood options negatively. It put fears among the farmers on losing their lands and hence their livelihoods and survival. Even though some of the farmers have alternative means of livelihood, the majority of them are under threat expecting an alternative from the Government. However, farmers will have to develop diverse livelihood coping and adaptation strategies to survive when their livelihoods are threatened by shocks and stressors of eviction. Some of the farmers in this study have decided to take up non-farm jobs as some studies have indicated that individuals will pursue non-farm jobs over agricultural pursuits due to a scarcity of adequate arable land. This is in fact a strategic survival move used by the vulnerable people who have been forced out of their occupation in order to survive; an observation this study has made . Interestingly, majority of the farmers will have to fight on their own since they have not heard about any support from the government. Therefore, the study recommends that the state which is responsible for the eviction needs to provide adequate compensation or alternative livelihood means for the survival of these farmers and thus ensuring their livelihood rights.